Frank Alvarado, right, is seen with his son. He was fatally shot by Salinas police on July 10.

KSBW

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Frank Alvarado, right, is seen with his son. He was fatally shot by Salinas police on July 10.

KSBW

On the steps of a federal justice building in San Francisco, family members of two men killed by Salinas police and their attorney made a renewed call Tuesday for a federal probe on the Salinas Police Department to see if the department's policies on using lethal force and culture need to be changed.

Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin wants his officers to wear cameras on their uniforms, but first, he must get the funding from the city's Measure V committee and convince his officers that it's a good idea.

The four fatal officer-involved shootings in 2014 had one similarity: The people shot to death were all Latino men.

Angel Ruiz, 42, died March 21; Osman Hernandez, 26, died May 10; Carlos Mejia, 44, died May 20; and Frank Alvarado, 39, died July 10. Ruiz was armed with an air-soft pistol, Hernandez and Mejia had sharp objects, and Alvarado was carrying a cellphone that he pointed like a gun.

"The community needs answers. They need to have confidence that the department is not engaged in discriminatory law enforcement and that it’s not open season on Latinos," said a high-profile civil rights attorney, John Burris, who is representing the Alvarado and Mejia families.

"The number of deadly force shootings in this time period is alarming and has caused social upheaval, dissension and fear in the community," Burris said.

Burris said residents are concerned that police have adapted a practice of "shoot first and justify their conduct later" with responses such as: he reached to his waist, he lunged at me, he attacked me and others.

"What we're asking for is justice. I ask for justice for my son and for other three people who have been killed, just like my son, with no mercy," Jose Alvarado said.

Burris, Alvarado’s family, Mejia's family, and local social justice activists are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the practices, policies and culture within the Salinas police force.

"We're here in San Francisco because we feel we'll get more justice here than we will out of Salinas where they just rubber stamp things," local activist Margaret Bonetti said.

Burris said he wants the investigation to look into whether or not the four shootings show a pattern of discriminatory policing.

"To assert that this is a racist or police department that engages in discriminatory behavior is really pretty insulting," Police Chief Kelly McMillin said. McMillin said he hasn't been contacted by the Department of Justice, but he said an investigation wouldn't turn up any evidence of racism or discriminatory law enforcement.

"I think if the Department of Justice decided to open an investigation like Mr. Burris is suggesting, they'd come in and find a department that's well trained, compassionate, that's hard working and committed to principals of social justice and equal treatment under the law," McMillin said.

When asked why all the officer-involved shootings involved Latinos, McMillin said, "In Salinas, 77 percent of the population is Latino. More than nine out 10 of the small number of people who commit violent crimes are Latino."

The chief said internal investigations regarding the four shootings are still underway and he said the findings will be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office and U.S. Department of Justice for review.

Burris on Tuesday said another problem in the Salinas Police Department is transparency. Most notably, McMillin and the city have refused to release the names of officers involved in the four shootings to the media.

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